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Liberal-NDP coalition isn’t cheating, it’s democracy: Cohn

Welcome to Ontario, where we choose minority governments. And choose not to understand what follows.

Judging by the latest polls, we may be heading for yet another minority legislature when the votes are counted June 12.

In their first debate last week, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath Horwath refused to even look at Kathleen Wynne for most of the match-up, writes Martin Regg Cohn. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

In every campaign homestretch, the perennial question is posed to the major party leaders: Would you join forces with your declared enemies to govern the province? Could you countenance a coalition?

Oddly, the question implies there is an alternative: Spurn your rivals — and leave the province ungoverned?

Politicians reflexively dodge the question. In Tuesday’s televised debate we may see variations on this theme, but Tim Hudak has already led the untruth brigade.

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The Tory leader not only ruled out any coalition between himself and the Liberals’ Kathleen Wynne or the NDP’s Andrea Horwath, but railed against the notion of those two relatively progressive parties teaming up themselves. It would, he claimed, be cheating — breaking the rules.

“I think that’s cheating voters, and I think that it’s all about Kathleen Wynne trying to keep her job instead of doing the right thing,” Hudak said.

Why can’t left-leaning parties do the left thing?

Taking a page from Stephen Harper, our noted prime ministerial constitutional contortionist and distortionist who famously denounced coalitions in 2008, Hudak is now demonizing them in advance. He is echoing Harper’s cynically anti-democratic notions, which whip up public distrust of our parliamentary traditions.

Hudak should have a word with the U.K.’s Tory premier, David Cameron, who formed a post-election coalition with deputy premier Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats. Or with Australia’s right-wing Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who governs thanks to a formal coalition with the National Party.

Ontario’s Liberals and New Democrats inked a formal accord in the wake of the 1985 election to oust the Tories (who held a plurality of seats). These are parliamentary precedents, not deceptions, yet Hudak is crying foul in advance.

“My position is clear — no coalitions. We will follow whatever the voters tell us they want.”

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In truth, there is no way of knowing what voters really want — short of a majority landslide. There is no check box on the ballot for people to indicate they want a majority or minority, a formal coalition or informal cohabitation — or none of the above.

In our constitutional system, the voters choose their party representatives, who are paid to take it from there. If voters deliver a hung parliament, there is only one clear message: Work it out and make it work.

Short of calling another election within days of voting day, it’s up to the politicians to undo the deadlock. Once they’ve sorted it out, they must propose a modus vivendi to Lieutenant-Governor David Onley, who is governed by one overriding factor: Who can muster a majority of votes in the 107-seat legislature?

It doesn’t matter whether Hudak’s Tories win the most seats in a three-way split between the Liberals and New Democrats. Short of a majority (54 seats), Hudak must demonstrate he has enough votes to survive confidence motions (the budget and speech from the throne, which lay out the government’s finances and political agenda).

Before the election, the Liberals governed largely with the support of the NDP — until Horwath rejected the spring budget. Would they be able to patch it up again?

Watch their body language in Tuesday’s televised leaders’ debate. The strained chemistry between the three leaders will be a clue to any future coalition dynamics.

Their relationship has been dysfunctional for the past year. Unlike Hudak (and the Green Party’s Mike Scheiner), Horwath pointedly refused the premier’s invitations for pre-budget consultations.

Her insinuations of “corruption” have been surprisingly personal, given that Wynne remains personally unscathed. It might prove hard for Horwath to swallow her harsh rhetoric and return to the status quo ante.

Stay tuned — after Tuesday’s debate, voters will get the last word. If their choice is another minority, the politicians will have no choice but to make it work.

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